Process of generating hydrogen.



PATENTED MAR. 31., 1.908. H. FOBRSTBBLING & H. PHILIPP. PROCESS OFGENERATING HYDROGEN.

APPLICATION TILED A151}. 16, 190'! b Lin wows UN TED sT-MEs THE ROESSLEfor NEW YORK.

(a l F f No. 883,531. I

= a n fulProcess of Generatin Hydrogen, of which i the followingisa seci cation. r H A 10. .Our'invention re ates to anew process ofdegenerating hydrogen from alkali metals and atsprincipal objects areto.provide vmeans whereby hydrogen may be quickly and acheaply. generatedand wherein. the sub stances used andthe means for practicing thelam-process ma be readily transportable and movable; uoh processhas longbeen desired ,es ecially for ballooning purposes wherein the ,{avantagesset forth are obvious. 2o 1, It'is wellknown hat hydrogen can beob- ,tained by the reaction of water on alkali :;;;metals, but onaccount of the violent reaction which takes place when water reacts withthe alkali metal as such process has heretoforebeen practiced, thisreaction has not been'made use of in a commercial man ner. The hydrogenproduced at the present time is mostly generated from water by elec-'trol sis, or from a metalin reaction with an 80 aci as for instance zincand sulfuric acid, or

from calcium hydrid and water.

The electrolysis requires an electrol tic plant, which is not easilymovable. he method of obtaining'hydrpgen from a metal and an acid, asfor instance zinc and sulfuric acid, the disadvantage of bein a slow Ione ,and besides the acidls noteasi y trans-' ported. Thehydrogengenerated from calcium hydrid is very expensive on account of 40 theeostl raw material. Besides, ,the calcium hy rate formed'by'the reaction'of water is a bulky material.

1 Knowing the explosive reaction between alkali metaland hydrogen, weprepared at first difierent alloys containin ,an. alkali metal andanother metal. The a loys of lead and} sodium especially offered a meansof gfinerating hydrogen quickl The water t e roportion of alkali meta inthe alloy the quic 'er hydrogen is generated. An alloy containing 40% ofsodium and 60% ,of leadgenerates 2.6 cubic feet of hydrogen per a oundof alloy. But such alloys have the' .[disadvantage that a dead weighthas to be Specification of 1907. Serial mi. sasau'.

PATENT OFFICE;

, Hans FOERSTERLING AND HERBERT PHILIPP, or rnn'rn AMBOY, NEWJERSEY,-A,SSIGNQR$. n & HASSLACHER ,cnnmoan 00., on NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPORATION rnocasslor onnnna'rme mrnnoenn.

Letters Patent. I Patented March 3 1,

.tionof drogen, and this feature is Objectiona'ble or ballooningpurposes. We tried next. to react alkali metal with a strong sol u-'tion of caustic. Here the generationof hydrogen can be regulatedprovided the caustic solution can be cooled, butthe cooli ofthe causticsolution makes this methods. so undesirable. We then discovered anextremel simple method whereby water and alka metal can be used. We putapiece. of. so-' dium in aclosed vessel and letwaterruninto the vessel atthe same rate that the hydrogen a. was generated. In other words, wenever" worked with a surplus of water, so that no solution was formed.After the reaction we opened the vessel and found acake of solidcaustic. The advantage this method has will be readil understood. Only,one mate-. rial, the alkai metal, need be carried along, water beingalmost universally present. Furthermore a large yield of hydrogen is obtained,jone poun of sodium, for example, generatin over eight cubicfeetof hydrogen. We sha 1 describe, in connection withthe accompanyingdrawings, a very simple illustrative apparatus of one Way of practicing.our process.

In the drawings F igure, 1 is an elevation, artially in section of saidapparatusand ig. 2 1s a cross-sectionalview of the container ortion ofFig. 1 along the line 2- -2.

Siml ar letters indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

21.. represents a drum or container for the alkali metal and ispreferably that in which the alkali metal is s ip ed from the factory,the container cover, in icated at b by dotted lines, bein removed andreplaced by another cover c a apted to make air ti htclosure with thecontainer and equippe as hereinafter described. The rum or container atis preferably proyidedwith vertically arranged partitions separating thecontents of. the container so that a reaction in one division of thecontainer will not affect the alkalii ,0 metal in any other division. 3

0 represents a tank of' any convenient shape, suitably su ported above.the container a, and rovi ed with a gage f, an inlet port g for filingthe tank with water and adapted to be made air tight, an outlet pipe hconnecting the tank and the container and an outlet pi e 4; controlledby a valvej for the purpose ereinafter set forth. 1

55 carried'iwhich is unavailable for the genera Outlet pipe h is adaptedto be I passed 11" through a suitable stufhng box in cover a and isprovided at its lower end with a sprinkler section is,

lis a valve controlling pipe 72; m is a stuffing box within which thelower part of pipe h is adapted to turn and n is a gear in mesh withgear 0 on shaft 39, actuated by any suitable means (not shown) andadapted to give a rotary mp-vement to the lower part of pipe h carryingsprinkler k over each division of the container at any predeterminedrate of speed. i

ris a pipe passing through cover 0 and connecting container a and tank einto which latter the pipe projects so that its outlet shall be belowthe surface of the water in the tank. 8 is a check valve vto prevent thewater from fiowing'back from the tank when the water is under pressure.f

-The operation is follows: The container at being filled with sodiummetal and tank e being filled nearly to its capacity witlrwater,

and valve opened, valve is opened very.

slightly. Pipe h is then slowly rotated by the means disclosed causingsprinkler t: to travel slowly over the various divisions of con tainera, thereby allowing the small quantity of water coming in contact withthe sodium metal-in any one division to complete its reaction before afurther quantity of Water comes into contact therewith. In this manner asteady and quick generation .of hydrogen is effected. The hydrogenpasses through pipe rlnto tank 6 where it is washed and cooled by beingpassed through the water in the tank and then passes out to any suitablereceptacle through pipe 'i. During the first part of the operation thewater supply should be slow so as to permit the air to be driven out theap aratus, but as soon as this has been accomp i'shed the amount ofwater su plied regulated according, to the size of the container alwaysprovided that not more water is supplied than sufficient to cause areaction with the alkali metal in proportion to the generation ofhydrogen and to form substantially no solution. in tank-e is to bereplenished from time to time as may be seen necessary from the readingof the gage.

It is obvious that other means than those illustrated may be utilized inpracticing our process without departing from the spirit of ourinvention.

Whatwe claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis 1. A pr cess of generating hydrogen from sodium consisting inreacting the sodium with water in a finely divided state at such a ratethat substantially no solution is formed.

2. A process of gm'ierating hydrogen from sodium consisting in seriallyreacting relatively small masses of sodium separated The water from eachother in'tbe same container, with 1 water at such a rate thatsubstantially no solution is formed, the reactions being such that thesupply of hydrogen is continuous. in testimony whereof we have hereuntosigned our ames in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HANS FOERSTERLING. H ERBERT PHI LIPP.

Wi tncsses a L. M. Ross], Fm'rz HOYLER.

